Customer Reviews

The Master of Whitestorm

5 star:		(8)
4 star:		(5)
3 star:		(1)
2 star:		(2)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

I read this book at the behest of a good friend of mine. I was very impressed with the book, even though it bore a resemblance to the sword-and-sorcery fantasy fiction such as Conan, which I am not fond of. Ms. Wurts creates an interesting character in Korendir that is so different from the lecherous Conan. This book is well worth the read and I reccomend the book to fantasy fiction readers needing respite from long, dull sagas such as the Wheel of Time

When I began reading this book, I found it very dry and boring. Yet the more I read, the more amazed and intrigued I became. Janny Wurts was able to masterfully write a story in which the readers know almost nothing about the protagonist until 2/3s of the way through the book! The main character is extremely deep and human; in my opinion, he rivals Raistlin Majere as being one of the most intriguing fantasy characters ever created.

This book has a hero who takes a unique approach to problems. He does not triumph through superior magic or a magical sword, or aid from a dragon or a wizard. He uses his brain, reminding me of a fantasy MacGuyver. By all means a hero, but he triumphs in ways the enemy (and the reader) would never expect or predict. A very good single volume fantasy, it has one of the best characters you will see anywhere. Janny Wurts is an author to watch!

The main character accomplishes more in 100 pages than most books accomplish in three novels. By page 100, the characters had escaped slavery, defeated a sorceress, and freed a country from an elemental. The stories stack up as the characters move from adventure to adventure. It's the perfect novel for anyone with a short attention span.

It's a bit tough to find sympathy for the main character at first. The author keeps his feelings and emotions very shrouded. However, the book moves so quickly that it's easy to keep reading nonetheless. My only other complaint was that the novel seemed to attempt to get a bit heavy-handed at the very end of the story.

Cursing: None (that I recall)

Sex: Mostly innuendo. One character propositions another and asks "how long since you've been with a woman?". In another scene, two characters are described as lying down in bed together after their marriage. However, rape is insinuated at other points in the book. One character who has been captured by slavers is described as 'being at the mercy of any merchant who wants her'. Another is described as 'being forced into an act that she had only up to now shared with her husband'.

Violence: There is a fair amount of slaying and blood-spilling in this book. At one point, an entire group of people is burned alive. Even though they are the bad guys, the scene is quite disturbing. The author treats this scene appropriately; none of the good guys rejoice over the death and every character is quite disturbed by the event. There is also reference to acts of rape and dismemberment. None of this is described in vivid detail, but the book is definitely not appropriate for sensitive readers.

I do not recommend the book for readers under 14. Even for more mature readers, I'd recommend that parents preview it.

This was a good, stand alone fantasy novel. The hero is complex & very tough. The descriptions of horses & especially sailing scenes are especially well done. The author's obvious familiarity with these two subjects shines through.

The story line is excellent. While not indicated by sections, there are distinct parts to the hero's life, each one building to a climax & logically leading to the next. The suspense never ends in a world that is complex & dangerous.

I highly recommend it.

I really love all of Janny Wurts' books actually but this one was one of my favorites. I am not a person that usually reads a book more than once but this is one that I've delved into a few times.

An enjoyable stand-alone fantasy from Janny Wurts, who is becoming one of my favorite authors.

The Master of Whitestorm, Korinder is an interesting character. He seems to be emotionally dead at first glance, but as the story progresses we see more deeply into his personality.

The tragic scenes that he has to deal with are very effective. I don't want to go into that too deeply and spoil anything, but there are a few scenes in this book that will stay with me for a long time.

As far as the accomplishments of Korendir, he builds a reputation for taking on impossible quests. What impresses me most about these adventures is the way Janny handles them. His success at these is plausible and creative. He's not just another typical hero with an S on his chest that defeats every challenge simply because of prophecy or being a chosen one. No, this guy uses his brain and succeeds where others fail because he always takes a new approach to solving the problems. He thinks outside the box. It doesn't hurt that he has good allies to help pull him out of the fire once in awhile, like his best friend Haldeth, a codgy old blacksmith who just wishes Korendir would settle down.

All in all, a very good book to escape with. Like other Janny Wurts books that I've read, this isn't a quick and easy rush through the pages. It takes more focus than the average adventure yarn and the payoff for more diligent reading is always there. It's not what I'd call "work" to read her books, but it does take a slower savoring of the language and her flow of narrative. And once again, she builds her story up to a satisfying and unexpected ending that delivers.

As The Master of Whitestorm starts off, Haldeth, a blacksmith turned galley slave, gets involved in an escape attempt by his bench mate, a mysterious and silent man who quickly proves to have surprising skills and hidden depths. After the two companions escape, they strike out together, and the mysterious man, whose name turns out to be Korendir, takes on a number of mercenary missions. It quickly becomes clear that Korendir is, to put it lightly, very focused on gathering enough money to build an impregnable fortress on the cliffs of Whitestorm...

This standalone novel is another excellent example of Janny Wurts' gorgeous prose style and entrancing story-telling. Initially an episodic story, consisting of a number of separate "missions" Korendir undertakes, the book gradually reveals an underlying thread that explains Korendir's distinctive personality (think Lethal Weapon in a complex fantasy setting) and builds up to an impressive climax and a moving conclusion.

Like many other Janny Wurts novels, The Master of Whitestorm is an intense and concisely told story that requires the reader's full attention. In this age of bloated fantasy tomes that could easily lose entire chapters without losing much plot, I've found that I always have to recalibrate when starting out on a Janny Wurts novel, because here every word counts. Re-reading will invariably reveal additional layers and details you may have missed on the first run-through -- especially in this novel, which starts out as a number of seemingly disconnected episodes.

If the novel has one small weakness, it's that episodic structure of its first half: upon a first reading, it came across as disjointed and lacking the narrative tension that I'd come to love and expect in the other Janny Wurts novels I've read. However, the second half of the novel ties everything together beautifully and will make you reconsider the earlier chapters -- and Korendir -- in an entirely different light. In either case, this may be just a personal preference: other readers reported loving Korendir's early missions because they had an old-fashioned "adventure fantasy" feeling to them -- and don't get me wrong, they're tremendously entertaining! Consider: Michael Moorcock's ELRIC OF MELNIBONÉ novels start out explaining why Elric is such a tortured soul, which puts the rest of his stories in perspective because we already understand Elric; by contrast, Korendir's background is only explained after reading a number of his adventures, so the reader is somewhat in the dark early on, but the later revelation is very powerful.

The novel has several other aspects to admire, including a large, varied, and original fantasy world (which could easily contain more novels), a unique magic concept, and a beautiful romance. Simply put, The Master of Whitestorm is another excellent standalone novel by Janny Wurts.

The writing style of this work reminded me of the early pulps: Conan the Barbarian, Jirel of Joiry, Tarzan, Warlord of Mars, etc. I normally can't stand that style, so I nearly threw the book down several times. The salvation of this story was that all the different battles and skirmishes added up to a very interesting exploration into the nature of heroism. Why do otherwise intelligent people go out and do things that can get them killed? The hero of this story thinks he wants security. In fact, the murder of his family has left him so screwed up he can't endure tranquility when he finds it. Emotionally, he is stuck as a child wanting to stop the barbarians. He finds a new home and starts a new family, only to drag them into the private hell he can never outgrow.

This book is not one to pick up for a light read, it took me a weekend from start to finish. Some of the details are haunting, I wanted to flinch away but this isn't tv, you have to keep your eyes open. I've only started reading books by Janny Wurts but I'm hooked on her style, kind of like Robert Jordan in the detail department but not so long.